In this paper we examine the complex relationship between dynamics of group talk and students' ideologies of learning. Through an interactional analysis and thematic coding of group talk, this study details barriers to collaboration in a digital storytelling workshop with primary-aged youth in Singapore. Drawing on 25 h of video-recorded data, we tease out participants' orientations to the activity of jointly authoring digital stories in order to highlight how ideologies of learning shaped group talk and bore connections to the larger social context in which participants interacted. Specifically, by considering context and cultural norms alongside group talk, we highlight the discursive processes that shape learners' participation in and learning through group talk. Findings speak to youths' socialization into norms and expectations about learning activities, which serve as the conceptual link between group talk and our claims about ideologies of learning and their impediment to collaboration.